Shoe.



No. 643,659. Patented Feb. 20, I900.

A. A. KDl-IN.

SHOE.

(Application filed Nov. 22, 1897.) (No Model.)

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ALFRED A. KOIIN, OF MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA.

SHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent- No. 643,659, dated February 20, 1900.

Application filed November 22 1897. Serial No. 659,381. No model.)

To alt whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED A. KOHN, a citizen of the United States, residing in Mont gomery, county of Montgomery, State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the class of shoes in which the vamp and the main portion of the sides are made in a single piece of material, and more particularly to a high-cut shoe or one that extends above the ankle. In such shoes as known to me it has been customary to fully form the upper part of one side out of the stock or blank, in doing which it is necessary to cut away part of the other side, and then a block or gusset is filled into such cut-away part to complete the side at the top, a seam being used to hold the block or gusset to the side. Such an arrangement is necessary in order to make the upper part of the sides sufiiciently large to properly fit around the ankle.

The object of my invention is to overcome the necessity of using such a block or gusset and to dispense with the unsightly seam that holds the block or gusset to the side.

My invention consists in a shoe having a vamp and two sides that extend above the ankle, each side comprising two portions secured together, one portion of each sidebeing in the same piece of materialas the vamp and extending above the ankle from the back to the front opening, the other portion of each side being a strip located at the front opening and projecting outwardly in front beyond the material of the first-mentioned portion above the ankle, said strips being of substantially the same area, the back edges of the sides being secured together, and fastening devices attached to said strips.

The invention also consists in the novel details of improvement that will be more fully hereinafter set forth and then pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, wherein- Figure 1 is a perspective View of a shoe embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a detail view of a lace-piece and barring-stay made in a single piece of material. Fig. 3 is a detail view of the upper portion of a shoe,

showing the lace-piece extending from the edges of the front opening at the top of the sides; and Figs. at and 5 are details of modified forms of the lace-piece.

In the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views, A indicates a shoe. In forming the upper for my shoe I out the outline for the same from a piece of suitable stock, so that the portions for the vamp and the major portions of the sides, including the quarters, will be in a single piece of material. I then by preference crimp the blank so cut to produce the desired shape, particularly over the ball, instep, and ankle portion, and then I cut the blank straight from a point below the instep to the top front edge of the sides above the ankle portion to form the front opening 0 in the shoe, and I join the back vertical portions of the quarters and apply a backstay, if desired. The cut so made causes the sides above the ankle to be too narrow to pass around the leg in front.

To create a proper area in the shoe above the ankle, I provide what I term a lace piece or pieces B, that are attached to the sides adjacent to the edges of the front opening, preferaby by lines of stitches extending along the back edges of said lace-pieces and along the front edges of the same and through the sides part way up the same, which lace piece or pieces extend outwardly in front from the edges of the sides from where the last-mentioned stitches stop in the sides. The lace-pieces thus serve to give the shoe the proper area at the top portion, so that it can extend around the leg above the ankle as much as required. It is evident that the lacepieces can be attached to the sides otherwise than by the stitches described. The lacepiece I have shown consists of two strips 12 b, which extend substantially in the same direction, and at their lower edges these strips are shown joined together, forming a barringstay b In Figs. 1, 2, and 3 the strips 19 b and the barring-stay b are formed from a single piece of material. This is done by taking a piece of suitable material of the proper width and slitting it lengthwise from near its lower end to its upper end, as at b". When the lace piece is made in a single piece of material, it is preferably first crimped to conform to the crimped shape of the upper, and it is then slit along the line b for the front opening of the shoe.

In Fig. 4 the lace-piece and barring-stay are formed by two strips b I), joined at their lower edges bya separate piece I), laid thereon and stitched thereto, as at 12 and constituting the barring-stay b the stitches extending crosswise of the strips b b.

In Fig. 5 the lower inner edges of the strips 1) b are stitched together, as at b, and across the upper edge of the joint between said strips are barring stitches b', which serve to strengthen the lace-piece to prevent it from ripping at the stitches b.

The lace-piece and barring-stay constructed as described are placed along the edges 0 of the front opening of the shoe and so as to cover the lower end of such opening where the sides D join the vamp E at the joint 0', the strips being sewed along their rear edges to the sides at B and the stitches are continued across the barring-stay b so as to join the latter to the vamp at B The forward edges of the strips 1) b are also stitched to the edges 0 of the sides around the point C at the bottom of the front opening and up to where the lace-piece extends outwardly in front from the sides. The eyelets F and hooks G pass through the strips 1) b and through the contiguous portions of the sides and in the forwardly-extending portions of the lacepieces. The portion b constituting the barring-stay is thus securely attached to the vamp and prevents the latter from tearing where it joins the upper, which is important where the vamp and sides are in a single piece of material, as by the stitches B that cross the vamp and join the barring-stay thereto strength is added to this part of the shoe. To the extending part I of the lace-piece hooks or eyelets are fastened. It will be seen that the parts I of the lace-piece are so cut as to extend outwardly in front, while the edge C inclines rearwardly, (see Fig. 3,) the parts I thus compensating for the backward incline of the sides D along the edges 0.

By my improvements the full area at the top of the shoe above the ankle is preserved and assured, notwithstanding that the front opening inclines upwardly and backwardly, owing to the cutting of the blank on astraight line to form the front opening.

Although the outer edges of the lace-pieces are shown as plain, itis evident that they may be embellished by scallops or other configurations to produce an ornamental eifect, if desired.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is 1. A shoe having a vamp and two sides that extend above the ankle, each side comprising two portions secured together, one portion of each side being in the same piece of material as the vamp and extending above the ankle from the back to the a front opening, the other portion of each side being a strip located at the front opening and projecting outwardly in front beyond the material of the first-mentioned portion above the ankle, said strips being of substantially the same area, the back edges of the sides being secured together, and fastening devices attached to said strips, substantially as described.

2. A shoe having a vamp and two sides that extend above the ankle, each side comprising two portions secured together, one portion of each side being in the same piece of material as the vamp and extending above the ankle from the back to the front opening, the other portion of each side being a strip extending from the vamp along the front of and projecting outwardly in front beyond the material of the first-mentioned portion above the ankle, the lower end of the strips lying upon the vamp below the front opening and stitched to said vamp across the same, said strips being of substantially the same area, the back edges of said sides being secured together, and fastening devices attached to said strips, substantially as described.

ALFRED A. KOHN.

Witnesses:

FRED W. CALDWELL, R. W. SKEHAN. 

